The history of many of our forebears who served in WW1 has never been fully recorded or acknowledged. The Victorian Aboriginal Remembrance Committee would love to hear about these brave men and to tell their stories. If you have anyone in your family who served in WW1 please contact Jessica.Horton@dpc.vic.gov.au who is currently putting together information on behalf of all Victorians to acknowledge their supreme contribution during that terrible time.
Many of John Franklin and Harriet Tull's descendants who attended the Franklin Reunion on the Saturday afternoon.
Family trees were put up for the children of John Franklin and Harriet Tull. John Charles Franklin's line was the largest, taking up the length of a whole wall and displaying five generations of family members.
Dr Meg Dillon, (Social Historian) has assembled the efforts of a number of researchers including that collected by a small group of Franklin descendants into a comprehensive document detailing the known and confirmed knowledge of John Franklin. The efforts of this research were presented at the Franklin Reunion over the Labour Day weekend. While this research was extensive it was unable to definitively answer the question of 'Who was John Franklin?" Research will continue in the hope that one day an important document will be uncovered at the Public Records Office or some other repository that will shed important new light on his origins and his connection with the Yea district in the 1840s.
As a member of the research team I would particularly like congratulate the other members of the research team and the quality of their investigations and materials in spite of not receiving any support or assistance from the TCAC. Research such as this provides a priceless asset to all Taungurung people and not just to the Franklin family.
The opportunity for Dr David Chalmers to present his findings was well received at the recent Franklin family reunion with many people hearing about his research and findings for the first time. His research and hypothesis sparked much interest by many of the older ‘Franklins’ who expressed a desire to visit the sites and gain first had experience of the landfall and environment.
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Two years ago Bernadette Franklin and Loraine Padgham (as representatives of the Taungurung) were invited to attend the launch of the culmination of six years of research undertaken by Prof. Chalmers at his Strathbogie Ranges property.
Prof. Chalmers had been researching the unusual arrangement of stones on his property and concluded that they could have been established by the Nira Balug people (a clan of the Taungurung) to herd kangaroos up the hill, into a race, where they were trapped and separated for slaughter or breeding. He compared the 'Euroa men' rock drawings found in the Strathbogie Ranges and theorised that the rock drawings could actually depict the local Aboriginal people herding and corralling kangaroos.
Other interesting stone arrangements were shown to the group and speculation was made that one stone arrangement was in fact a calendar made in the shape of a giant bird - possibly Bunjil - with it's beak pointing eastward towards the rising sun. Through cavities in the adjacent caves, sunlight could penetrate and shine on the back wall of the cave accurately depicting the time of the year.
Recently members of Taungurung were invited to participate in making tiles to add to the pathway under construction at Yea.
More details and photos will follow shortly
A group of Taungurung visited the old Aboriginal mission of Coranderrk on Saturday 18 August to help celebrate William Barak Memorial Day. After visiting the Coranderrk Cemetery, the last resting place of many Aboriginal people from the Kulin nation, the group headed for the old Supervisor's house. While it was a fairly low key event many federal, state and local politicians were present. Scheduled events included Gum leaf playing masterclass, tour of the supervisors house and entertainment by the Koori Children's Choir. A Corroboree for young men was held in the evening so unfortunately we had to leave before this event took place.
The supervisor's house is currently undergoing renovation however it seemed to be a considerably large building for the time and period.
Further information about Coranderrk can be found at the following website.
http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/encounters/coranderrk/index.htm
The cottage at Marshbank St, Yea was built in 1885. This photo was taken in 1919. It was demolished in 1990
I slept in this house in the 50s when it was owned by my cousins, Claude and Effie Rogers. Effie was a daughter of Harriet May, one of the original 12 children. I used to visit them with my family and stayed on occasion. We used to swim in the Yea river just over the back fence.
My grandparents Herbert and Mable Franklin lived next door. My mother was Rose and her Twin system Elsie, Less Bernadettes dad was born 3 years later, then Eileen, Norman, Ivan and Olive.
My memory of it was that it was very old, with beds on the verandahs, because it was summertime when I was there.
